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Belgian authorities have detained three people allegedly involved in conspiring to carry out an strike on the government's PM, Bart de Wever.

Legal authorities characterized the suspected scheme as a "jihadist-inspired terrorist attack" targeting the PM and fellow government officials.

During searches conducted in Deurne, Antwerp, in proximity to the premier's home, authorities discovered a potential IED and indications that the suspects were intending to employ a UAV.

While the planned victims of the strike were not officially named by the legal authorities, Second-in-command Maxime Prevot confirmed that the prime minister was among them.

"The news of a planned attack aimed at Premier Bart de Wever is deeply alarming," the deputy prime minister declared in a post on social media on the investigation day.

"This underscores that we are confronting a genuine terrorism risk and that we have to keep watchful," he concluded.

The three suspects arrested on allegations of plotting a terrorist killing and involvement in the functions of a jihadist network all live in Antwerp, per the legal authorities. They were with years of birth in 2001, 2002 and 2007.

By Thursday evening, one person was freed, while the remaining two were under interrogation and expected to appear in court on the next day.

The prosecution revealed that the accused were detained after a magistrate authorized inspections of their homes in the city by officials supported by explosives-trained dogs.

Throughout these raids that they found a device which closely resembled a homemade bomb, legal representative Ann Fransen announced at a news conference on Thursday.

Investigations also found a collection of ball bearings and a three-dimensional printer, with "indications that they intended to use a drone to attach a payload", she noted.

The official disclosed that there had been 80 extremist probes initiated in the country so far this year - surpassing the full amount of cases in the previous year.

Earlier this year, five people were sentenced for a previous year's plan to attack the prime minister while he was acting as the city's chief executive.